New information on Flight 370: Radar signals recorded by the Malaysian military appear to show the missing airliner climbing to 45,000 feet, above the approved altitude limit for a Boeing 777-200, soon after it disappeared from civilian radar and made … Continue reading →
At least, not yet. I hope that someday we’ll learn enough to make sense of it. But I’m beginning to wonder if that day will ever happen. Or if we’ll ever get a straight story on it from the authorities. … Continue reading →
[UPDATE: Malaysia’s acting Transport Minister, Hishammuddin Tun Hussein, has said the report linked below from the WSJ is “inaccurate.” He didn’t say how inaccurate, though. He also said that the area where the Chinese claim to have spotted debris was … Continue reading →
There is something uniquely terrible and uniquely fascinating about the unknown state of “missing, presumed dead” Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. Airplane crashes are always dreadful and terrifying; that’s a given. But disappearance—whether it be of an aircraft, a person, or … Continue reading →
…the two men traveling on stolen passports may not have had any relation to the downing of the Malaysian flight, at least if this story is true: Benjaporn Krutnait, owner of the Grand Horizon Travel agency, said the Iranian, a … Continue reading →
Ever since 9/11 and the subsequent attack attempts, airport security has used each new incident to come up with new safety measures. Some of them are rather esoteric, and many inconvenience passengers before every flight: an obvious example would be … Continue reading →
My best guess at this point is terrorism as the cause of the Malaysian air crash. Terrorism would seem an odd choice for a Malaysian flight traveling between Malaysia and China. But China was the seat of a recent terrorist … Continue reading →
It turns out that the amount of radiation exposure from the Fukushima reactor accident and any resultant projected increase in cancer cases has been minimal. But people in the comments section at the article refuse to believe this, so strong … Continue reading →
Here’s a song by my man Richard Thompson (lyrics here), featuring his characteristic beauty and bitterness: Those lines “in the dream I’m running/down a street of molasses/in the dream my feet gain no ground” seem an odd but effective image, … Continue reading →
The tragic crash of an Asiana flight Saturday while landing in San Francisco is a terrifying event despite the fact that “only” two people died. It’s tragic because two people dying is, of course, too many people—although everyone realizes it … Continue reading →
“Brave” doesn’t even begin to describe the men who voluntarily sign on to do this job: The 19 firefighters killed Sunday in Arizona were part of an elite crew known for working on the front lines of region’s worst fires, … Continue reading →
[NOTE: This is a sequel to yesterday’s post on prayers during the tornado.] During the Moore tornado, teacher Anna Canady had a prayer [emphasis mine]: She remembered that as the tornado bore down on this school in Moore, Okla., she … Continue reading →